Service branding is a subject that has been excluded from the traditional branding theory. Our main purpose with this paper is to distinguish what characterizes service branding. To do this, we have looked in to both service marketing theory as well as branding theory. We have also looked at the existing theory concerning service branding. Six qualitative interviews have been performed to explain what characterizes service branding. The result of this paper is presented through four main components of service branding. These are: the interactive marketing and the brand, the servicescape and the brand, costumer relations and the brand and the brand internal within the organization.

Background Keller (2009) states that brand equity and the crucial intangiblevalue a brand brings to organizations is perhaps one of the most important marketing topics discussed in recent years. As the competitive market and branding environment for companies are fierce, the sport industry has gradually become more competitive and professional in many aspects of their operations as well. Researchers have gone to the extent of claiming that a brand is the most important asset of a sports team and that the brand provides direction and meaning for sports associations as well as for their followers. Still, market studies have indicated that sport associations often lack appropriate branding strategies and particularly for teams below the professional level, research have been limited in these areas. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine what strategies and actions lower level Swedish ice hockey teams use in order to create and strengthen their brand. Method A hermeneutic view and inductive approach have been applied for this thesis. The purpose and research questions of this thesis have been answered with the help of seven qualitative, semistructured in-depth interviews with lower level sport club managers. Frame of reference Theory is based on two approaches to how teams can build and leverage their brand. While a model by Richelieu (2003) illustrates a strategic construction of the sports brand, the Spectatorbased brand equity model by Ross (2006) is more concerned with how controllable and uncontrollable factors contributes to the two main components of spectator based brand equity, namely brand awareness and brand associations. Conclusions The conclusion withholds the answer to the four research questions and purpose designed for this thesis. The findings indicate that teams are starting to realize the importance of a strong brand, particular to meet increased customer expectations for the game experience are considered important to create positive brand associations. An important finding have been the lack of communication and interaction teams seem to have with their customers in order to establish a clear brand identity and position in the market. The findings also indicate some characteristics particular to the lower level setting e.g. the dependence on volunteer workers and how the lack of long-term financial responsibility have impacted the management and development of a strong brand.

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To aid in resolving some of the ambiguity in the literature about the impact of different forms of WOM on brand performance, this dissertation investigates how WOM influences three consumer responses to WOM: purchase, WOM retransmission, and additional information search. The author investigates these questions by analyzing a database comprising more than three years of detailed WOM data from a unique, nationally representative panel merged with other secondary sources that provide various measures of brand strength (the American Consumer Satisfaction Index and Harris Interactive’s Equitrend). Using a series of hierarchical regression models, the results from this study reveal numerous insights into the contextual factors that moderate the impact of a WOM episode. For example, negative WOM about a brand has a larger absolute effect on consumer purchase intentions than positive WOM, but positive WOM has a larger positive effect on WOM retransmission than the positive effect of negative WOM. Offline WOM tends to exacerbate the effect of positive and negative brand sentiment on purchase intentions. WOM between stronger social ties tends to have greater impact on brand-related responses than WOM between weak ties, except in the case of motivating additional information search. The results also indicate that strong brands (those with higher levels of brand equity) tend to reap greater benefits from WOM. For example, negative, mixed, or neutral WOM has greater influence on purchase, and WOM from weak social ties about strong brands motivates higher levels of information search than when WOM from weak ties is about weaker brands.

This research examines loyalty marketing as an empirical case study of consumer surveillance. Focusing on the Canadian context, the research investigates the relationship between the personal information economy and loyalty marketing through several interrelated perspectives. These are marketing and business literature, theoretical frameworks of surveillance, the branding of consumers and corporations, consumer ambivalence towards surveillance and privacy issues, and the mutual shaping of consumers and these programs. These interrelated yet distinctive perspectives provide different means to understand loyalty programs as information portals in the increasingly monitored, measured and marketed lives of consumers. They are a means of surveillance through which corporations systematically collect consumption data in order to influence, manage, entitle, or control consumers (Lyon 2001). The research is based on interviews with loyalty program executives, international survey results, and focus groups to both describe the relationship between corporate information processing and consumers as well as the current and potential social effects and issues embedded in this relationship. Loyalty programs are seen as an important means for conceptualizing contemporary marketing practices, the use of personal information, and personal identity in an information oriented society. They are a complex manifestation of a ‘knowing capitalism’ (Thrift 2005) that has implications far beyond the accumulation of points and the ‘reward yourself’ appeal of participation by contributing to a cultural consumption circuit that perpetuates and reinforces already existing socio-economic differences. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-24 10:19:22.99

Title: Branding the public sector Author: Rasmus Bergmark and David Backman Tutor: Magnus Fredriksson Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to examine branding in the public sector. The frame extends to government agencies and authorities in the Swedish public sphere, and aims to identify ulterior motives for their work with branding. Method/Material: The material used in this thesis consists 102 graphic manuals for government agencies in the Swedish public sector. The examination was based on an inductive survey where we extracted prominent motives among the graphic manuals. Main results: The main results of this survey shows which ulterior motives are more prominent than others, why they are more prominent and correlations between different motives. Number of pages: 53 Course: Media and Communications studies C University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information sience, Uppsala university Period: Fall 2013 Keywords: Corporate branding, public sector, motives, market communication / Denna studies syfte är att undersöka vilka motiv som myndigheter anger vara skäl till att arbeta med profilering och vilka av dessa motiv som är de mest framträdande. Uppsatsen bygger på en övergripande frågeställning och tre stycken mer specificerade frågor som berör den övergripande frågan på en närmare nivå. Den övergripande frågan är: Varför vill man profilera sig som myndighet? Vidare är de tre andra frågorna som uppsatsen ämnar besvara dessa: Hur motiverar svenska myndigheter sitt arbete med profilering? Vilka motiv är vanligast förekommande? Hur beskrivs det att myndigheter arbetar med profilering?   Undersökningen baseras på en kvantitativ studie och genomfördes med hjälp av en innehållsanalys. Studien är utförd på samtliga tillgängliga profilmanualer för statliga förvaltningsmyndigheter i Sverige. Utifrån dessa har vi utformat ett eget ramverk med kategorier baserat på vad vi kunnat utläsa ur manualerna. Genom detta ramverk har vi kunnat ta fasta på vad och hur svenska myndigheter motiverar sitt arbete med profilering.   Undersökningens resultat visade vad som motiverar svenska myndigheter att bedriva arbete med profilering. Resultatet i underökningen visade i vilken utsträckning myndigheterna angav dessa motiv. Majoriteten angav tydlighet som motiv till att bedriva arbetet med profilering och detta motiv tycks även vara grundläggande för resterande faktorer i deras arbete. Vidare kan vi konstatera att det är viktigt att arbetet bedrivs konsekvent då majoriteten av svenska myndigheter angav detta som ett motiv.

Uppsatsen berör det allt vanligare begreppet CSR (Corporate Social Responsilitility), det vill säga företags samhällsansvar. Genom att uppmärksamma trender och studenters intresseområden kan företag öka sin attraktivitet i sitt arbetsgivarvarumärke, Employer Brand. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur företag kan implementera information om sitt CSR-arbete i Employer Branding-strategin för att på så vis öka sin attraktionskraft gentemot studenter. I studien studeras tre företag; EY, Accenture och Sweco. Företagens Employer Branding-strategi och CSR-arbete beskrivs och redovisas översiktligt. Vidare kartläggs hur företagen väljer att kommunicera ut det CSR-arbete de bedriver gentemot studenter och andra intressenter. En enkätundersökning genomförs för att få studenternas perspektiv på vikten av CSR och undersöka hur företagens kommunikation har nått ut. Resultatet av studien analyseras med hjälp utav en egenutvecklad modell som kopplar samman Employer Branding-strategier med CSR-dimensioner och kommunikationsstrategier. En slutsats som dras är att CSR kan implementeras i strategin på olika vis beroende på kärnverksamhet och typ av företag. Utifrån enkätundersökningen dras en slutsats att studenter inte främst fokuserar på CSR-aspekter när det kommer till att värdera en arbetsgivares attraktivitet. Aspekter som balans mellan arbete och fritid, utmanande arbetsuppgifter samt sammanhållning på arbetsplatsen är de som visar sig vara mest efterfrågade. Slutsatsen som dras är att det är genom mässor och arbetsmarknadsdagar som studenterna haft mest kontakt med företagen och att en mer aktiv kommunikation av CSR i dessa forum skulle kunna resultera i att företaget lyckas kommunicera ut mer av sitt CSR-engagemang.

No description available.

Branding and consciously aiming for a certain brand identity has been practised for over four centuries. Irrespective of whether it is a business to consumer or business to business environment, marketing and branding are aimed at increasing volume, and therefore revenue, but is also about adding some additional measure of value to the products or services on offer. Brand management practices have existed for decades, but brand equity as a central business concept for many organizations has only really emerged in the past twenty years. Even though there is huge interest in branding with a definite predominance of branding in consumer or business to consumer (B2C) markets, literature indicates that branding, brand equity and brand value in business to business (B2B) environments are handled and experienced differently to the extent that it has received little attention from academics. Therefore the question is firstly to determine the differentiating factors/elements in B2C and B2B environments and; secondly what corresponding factors/elements are there in B2C and B2B environments. The practical application of branding in business to business environment is consequently investigated to assess to what extent businesses are able to create brand value and brand equity. Larger businesses increasingly exhibits trends in recognising the importance of branding and brand names, while small and medium-sized business fare poorest when it comes to harnessing the potential of branding. Yet in the face of a changing business landscape, brought about by the current economic recession sparked by the U.S. subprime crisis of 2007, these businesses are beginning to realise the importance of having a strong brand name in order to achieve not only a sustainable competitive advantage, but also in a quest to remain ahead of the competition. Even though the valuation of brand equity and brand value is discussed, the actual calculation of such valuations does not fall within the scope of this study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Branding and consciously aiming for a certain brand identity has been practised for over four centuries. Irrespective of whether it is a business to consumer or business to business environment, marketing and branding are aimed at increasing volume, and therefore revenue, but is also about adding some additional measure of value to the products or services on offer. Brand management practices have existed for decades, but brand equity as a central business concept for many organizations has only really emerged in the past twenty years. Even though there is huge interest in branding with a definite predominance of branding in consumer or business to consumer (B2C) markets, literature indicates that branding, brand equity and brand value in business to business (B2B) environments are handled and experienced differently to the extent that it has received little attention from academics. Therefore the question is firstly to determine the differentiating factors/elements in B2C and B2B environments and; secondly what corresponding factors/elements are there in B2C and B2B environments. The practical application of branding in business to business environment is consequently investigated to assess to what extent businesses are able to create brand value and brand equity. Larger businesses increasingly exhibits trends in recognising the importance of branding and brand names, while small and medium-sized business fare poorest when it comes to harnessing the potential of branding. Yet in the face of a changing business landscape, brought about by the current economic recession sparked by the U.S. subprime crisis of 2007, these businesses are beginning to realise the importance of having a strong brand name in order to achieve not only a sustainable competitive advantage, but also in a quest to remain ahead of the competition. Even though the valuation of brand equity and brand value is discussed, the actual calculation of such valuations does not fall within the scope of this study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.